Mother Insults
by SupaFranky
Summary: Short fic about pushing limits and setting boundaries. It's how friendships are made after all. Teen for some mild language and "your mom" jokes.


Whee, I'm writing fanfiction again. Thanks to Sporkstress for the beta-read!

I dont own one piece, or profit from the fandom. No suings plz.

If people enjoy this, I'd love to write more with these two. Please read and review and lemme know.

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Mother Insults

Usopp's workshop wasn't a bad place to work, and considering that Franky built it to Usopp's request rather than his own, it'd been pretty nice of Long-nose to let Franky share the space with him.

This week, Franky was feeling supper good and super playful. He'd been teasing Usopp all day, with an endless string of Your Mom jokes. It was only 2 pm, and Usopp was already twitching, not that Franky would notice.

"Can you give me that screwdriver?" Usopp asked, struggling to remain polite.

Franky handed it over with a grin, "That's what your mom said"

Usopp snatched the tool tersely, and turned back to his work. "Are you even doing anything in here today?!" He growled, his temper starting to wear though his patience.

"…Your mom" Franky said, singsong. Long-nose made this too easy.

Usopp make a groan of frustration, balling his hands into fists and barely containing his temper. "You know what's driving me crazy?!" Usopp demanded rhetorically.

Franky arched an eyebrow. "Your Mom?" He fathomed.

That did it.

"That DOES it! I'll have you know my mother was a very nice lady and she was a good mother who raised me even when my dad wasn't around and I loved her very much and I still miss her every day!!" Usopp snapped all at once and went off at Franky.

"…That's what she said" He said, his mind unable to process Usopp's tirade fast enough. It was a joyless prod, but it was the one push too far across the line.

Usopp screamed, grabbing his things up into his arms roughly. "I'm never working around you again!! And Don't ever talk to me, either!!" Usopp yelled at Franky, leaving the workshop and slamming the door behind him. Franky didn't feel so super any more.

Franky sighed after a silence descended on the shop, running a hand over his hair. He felt like a super jackass. He figured he better let Usopp calm down, then give him an apology.

About an hour or so later, Franky went to find him. Usopp was working on his project on the observation deck of the Sunny, facing the sea with his back to the rest of the ship.

"Hey, Long-nose?" Franky called after him. Usopp ignored him. "Hey, I'm sorry" He said, putting a hand on Usopp's shoulder. The sniper whipped his head around and knocked Franky's hand away.

"Just leave me alone, ok?!" Usopp snapped, gathering his project again to retreat.

"Look, I wanna apologize, I'm sorry, alright?" Franky started to follow him into the kitchen. Usopp glared angrily and slammed the door in Franky's face.

"Grr" Franky growled. Tugging on the door. Usopp had apparently locked it. Suppressing a tantrum, he knocked roughly on the door. "Hey, come on! Open up!"

"Kitchen's closed. Wait until dinner!" Sanji snapped from inside. Oh what the hell. What was that damn cook doing getting involved?!

Franky counted to ten, then turned, and walked past Luffy, Zoro and Nami who were watching with detached interest. Franky was just going to have to go though some one on this.

He opened the door to the sick bay. He was met with a disgruntled doctor.

"I heard what you did to Usopp" Chopper said with crossed arms and a scowl. "and I'm not going to talk to you either" He informed Franky coldly.

Franky wanted to kill something. "Reindeer-Gorilla! You're his best friend! I wanna apologize to him but he wont listen to me! You're the one closest to him so you can get though to him!" Franky implored.

"Don't think you can convince me with flattery!" Chopper snapped, blushing and waving his paw happily. He then stopped all together, crossing his arms again and glaring. "If you cant figure it out, I'm not going to help you" He told the shipwright bluntly. Franky gave a groan of frustration and showed himself out.

"…Usopp is the kind to hold a grudge. Good luck with that" Zoro commented casually from where he reclined on the grass deck. Franky scowled.

"He's pretty touchy too, but you really pushed it, you know" Nami scolded the older man. She was sitting in a lounge chair with her book.

"….Maybe you should use his real name when you apologize" Luffy suggested softly, swinging languidly on the swing. Franky sighed, Straw-hat was right.

"Yeah… I'll do that" Franky said, feeling defeated. He went towards the kitchen, but Sanji was leaning back against the doorframe, smoking a cigarette. Robin was the only one inside, making notes out of an encyclopedia.

"Oi- He went down to the quarters to chill out" Sanji gestured limply.

"Thanks" Franky responded, feeling beaten down. He made his way down below deck.

Luffy watched him go down. Zoro folded his arms behind his head, closing his eyes. Chopper and Robin came out with the others.

"Do you think it will be alright, Captain-san?" Robin asked with a slight frown.

Luffy gave her a confident grin. "Franky's a good guy. Usopp's just really sensitive, but they're a lot alike too, I know they'll be fine" He promised Robin with a cryptic giggle.

Usopp was laying in his bunk, drawing with his sketchbook resting on his knee. He saw Franky come down and roll over, pretending to be asleep. Franky sighed to himself and sat down on his own bunk.

"…Hey Usopp? I'm really sorry I insulted your mother" Franky started. He didn't expect anything beyond more of the silent treatment. "She must been one super lady to bring up a nice kid like you… and all alone it musta been super hard"

Usopp rolled over, studying Franky to see if he was sincere. "…She was a really good mother" he agreed, conceding to Franky. "She was really pretty and really smart, too" He added.

"Oh?" Franky asked, looking up at Usopp who pulled a photo out of a safe place tucked in his sketchbook. He passed it over to Franky. The larger man took it gingerly, with care and looked at the image of a dark haired woman with a long nose and a smiling kid version of Usopp. "You lost her when you were pretty young, huh?" He asked.

"I was a bit older than that, I could take care of myself" He said, taking his photo back and tucking it away with reverence. "Did you have parents you remember, Franky?" Usopp asked, relaxing around the blue haired man again.

Franky chuckled. "Yeah, they were pirates… I pissed em off too bad though and they threw me overboard. Cant say I know what happened to em afterwards" He said. Usopp sat up in shock.

"Franky, are you serious?" Usopp said in disbelief. Franky kind of shrugged with a nod.

"They didn't like the weapons I made" He said by way of explanation.

Usopp frowned, parents ought not dump their children into the sea for being gifted. "That's really awful" He said.

"If it hadn't happened, I never woulda met old Tom. He was more of a parent than my parents were, ya know?" Franky said. Usopp nodded.

Franky and Usopp both settled into their own thoughts for a moment before Franky spoke again. "You know… Working with you reminds me of working with Iceberg back in the day when Tom was taking care of us. I used to drive him insane too" Franky laughed. "Only he usually wacked me pretty damn hard when he'd had enough of it"

"You shouldn't need some one to hit you to know better" Usopp chided Franky, he was still a bit sore over that, Usopp was slow to forgive completely.

"I know" Franky said, bowing his head sheepishly. He was 34 years old, he really ought to know better. "I really like to work with you. I'm kinda sorry I but a load bearing wall between your shop and mine" He said.

Usopp digested that statement for a long moment. "I don't mind working with you- when you don't make fun of my mother, or me" He said.

"I bet if you and I put our heads together, we could redirect the force off that wall and come up with something. …I wont tease you like that again if you don't like it" Franky said slowly.

"Thanks, Franky" Usopp smiled over at him from across Sanji's empty bunk. "We can start on it tomorrow" He promised.

"Yeah" Franky smiled back, stretching out on his bed. Usopp did likewise and the two settled into peaceful meditation together.


End file.
